The Dark Side's Lure
by The Noble French Fry
Summary: Follow young Jedi Student Nerca Gomika Beyul [OC] as she first learns of the Dark Side of the Force, and is tempted by it... [Several years postROTJ, at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy][COMPLETE]
1. Seduction

The Dark Side's Lure

"This is indeed a Sith artifact, confirmed by several high-ranking Jedi Masters themselves." The short Chubbit Jedi instructor held up a small pyramid-shaped object in his cloth-rapped hand. "I do believe they called it a Fornath, a well in which they bestowed much of their own power."

Nerca Gomika Beyul looked up from her datapad notes to look at the Sith relic. It was a small golden pyramid, covered by Sith symbols.

"The power is dark and corrupt, made to be saved for later times, when a Sith may have been low on strength. He or she could then take advantage of the power source he'd laid inside and replenish him or herself."

Nerca—more widely known as Gomika because her sister's name was also Nerca—raised her hand to ask a question.

The instructor gestured with a fat hand. "Yes, Student Beyul?"

"Does that mean that the power well can be tapped?" she asked.

"Yes."

"By the Sith alone or just anyone?"

The Chubbit's wide face was split by a frown. "Anyone with enough power to reach into the well with the Force can tap it. I believe it would be difficult for a student to even draw on its power at all, but a Master could do it easily."

Gomika saw her twin sister, Nerca Sombal, giving her a strange look that said "Why did you even ask?"

"That's very interesting," Gomika said to the Chubbit instructor. "And then it'd give the tapper more power?"

Again the instructor's face displayed a frown. "Yes, dark power would then flood the one who tapped it. You have interesting questions, Student Beyul, but we must continue this lesson."

She nodded.

"Now then, the power that would then overflow the individual would be dark and evil," the instructor said. "It is believed the power is addicting and overpowering, especially the first time. Those who not strong enough but touch it anyway perish, or are taken into a deep nearly mindless state, where they are out of contact with the world around them."

Gomika's attention drifted away from the instructor to her own thoughts about the Sith item. She had to admit that deep down, she was attracted to the idea of a power well, capable of being drawn upon by any Jedi, or Sith for that matter. True, the instructor said the power was evil, and overpowering, but what did he really know about it?

_Yeah_, she found herself thinking. _What does he really know?_

She looked at the item in his hand and raised her hand for a question. "Um, are we allowed to examine it?"

One of the instructor's hairless brows rose. "No, you cannot. Master Skywalker will not allow it. He says that it may accidentally be tapped, and then we might lose a student, and a future Jedi. Besides, even if a young student touched this, he or she would probably be taken over by longing to have its power, and then would probably be lost to the dark side, or torn apart by their own wishes."

_Yeah, right_, Gomika thought.

"Now, where was I?" The instructor continued on with his lecture. Gomika found herself barely listening.

After the class, Gomika found herself waiting around just down the hall from the classroom, waiting for the instructor to leave. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she guessed it had something to do with that Sith Fornath, and her desire to examine it closer.

"Hi, you're Beyul, right?" Gomika heard from her left. She turned to see a small, wide-eyed Twi'lek student hovering there with an armful of holobooks.

"Um, yes," she answered cautiously.

The Twi'lek nearly dropped his books, and scrambled to keep them in his arms. "Excuse me, but which Beyul are you?" he asked shyly.

"Well, I'm Nerca Gomika, and my sister is Nerca Sombal. And you are…?"

He gave her a shy smile. "Sorry, my name's Hyrokk." He offered his free hand for a shake, but Gomika just ignored it. Hyrokk saw this and withdrew his hand quickly. "Um, can I ask why you and your sister have the same name?"

Gomika rolled her eyes. She'd grown all too tired explaining this. "To make an extremely long story short, it's a family thing. We were named for my great-aunt, the original Nerca Beyul, the great Jedi Master of the Old Republic."

She noticed the Chubbit instructor hurrying away down the hall from her, without the Sith Fornath in hand.

"Interesting!" Hyrokk said.

Gomika pushed past him toward the classroom's slightly cracked door. "If you'll excuse me, Hyrokk, I need to do something."

She came to the door and turned around. Hyrokk saw a glimmer in her eye. "Actually," she said to him, "I'd like you to come keep watch."

The "Fornath" was not as Gomika had seen it a moment before. Somehow it seemed more welcoming, more pleasurable than it had.

She reached out a hand to touch it…

"What are we doing?" Hyrokk asked.

Her hand curled back. "I'm just checking something out." Back out to touch the pyramid her hand went.

"What kind of something?"

Back it curled.

"Nothing, really," Gomika found herself saying. "Go and stand watch at the door."

"What—" the Twi'lek began.

"Don't ask, just do!" Gomika snarled, more viciously than she meant to. She actually scared herself a bit with the harshness.

Looking hurt, Hyrokk obeyed and slunk back to the doorway to stand watch.

Gomika ignored her fierceness for the moment, and reached back out for the Fornath. Her hand was inches from touching it when she stopped for a moment, something inside her whispering, _This curiosity will destroy you, Nerca Gomika. Life after this will never be the same!_

And then there was a reply, _So be it!_

And she reached out and touched the pyramid.

For a moment, nothing happened and Gomika was severely disappointed. The artifact's outside was smooth except where the indents of Sith symbols interrupted it, slightly chill, but nothing else.

As Gomika grunted with anger and pushed into it with the Force, the deep power inside the Fornath was released, and she was completely engulfed by it. Her vision of the Yavin 4 classroom fell away and all she saw was swirling darkness.

And then before her eyes a vision appeared.

Two figures were engaged in a lightsaber battle, one with a violet blade, the other with a blood-red one.

They whirled so that Gomika could see their faces, and she noticed they were very similar. And both had dark eyes, and black hair, though the one with the red lightsaber had a cut down one side of her face…

And then the swirling black around her became too much for Gomika, and she passed out, unconscious.

She awoke what she assumed was probably about ten minutes later, lying on the floor in the Jedi Academy classroom's floor, with Hyrokk standing over her. She was aching all over, but especially in her hands, and there was some kind of burning across her throat and face in one line.

Her hand went up to feel across it, and found a nasty scratch there. And it ignited with pain when she touched it.

"Yow!" she mumbled, afraid that if she said it too loudly, it would attract attention. And then she looked at her hands. They were burnt, though not badly. "By the Force!" she whispered. "What happened?"

"I think it's that thing you touched," Hyrokk answered. He looked over her shoulder at something on the floor. "You had it in your hands when you hit the floor, and then you let go and it scratched your face. And it seems it burnt your hands too."

Gomika blinked. "Well, now, that's strange." She sat up, and yelped with pain as she did so. "How long was I out?"

Hyrokk shrugged. "Uh, I'd say about a standard minute."

Gomika's eyes bulged. "A _minute_? I thought I'd been out for nearly a half-hour!"

"Nope."

Gomika turned and carefully picked up the Sith artifact. It was completely unchanged, just as it had been before she touched it. She laid it exactly where it had been.

Her hand burned. She tried a trick she'd learned a while back and used the Force to relieve herself of some aches. She found it easier to do than it had been in previous times. A lot easier.

She grinned. It had to be the power she'd drawn from the Fornath… And it felt _good_.

Gomika found herself thinking of future times when she could touch this power again. And draw from it to help herself excel… With this new strength, she could be the greatest Jedi here!

And so Nerca Gomika Beyul—later known solely as Nerca Beyul the Dark—became one with the dark side of the Force.


	2. Battle

**_It's finally here! Chapter 2 of The Dark Side's Lure! Please note that this takes place 2 months after the first chapter, and there have been several changes. Enjoy, and please REVIEW!_

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**The Battle for Gomika**

She tossed and turned in her tiny bed, entangling herself in the sheets and tossing them about. But she couldn't help it, she wasn't just entangled in her sheets, she was entangled by a nightmare.

She couldn't remember the time before the nightmares… She couldn't remember sleeping through the night. It had been too long.

The nightmares were ferocious… relentless… recurring.

They'd been going on for near two months now, and she'd tried everything in her power to stop them.

Nothing worked.

And she couldn't tell anyone else that she couldn't sleep through the night anymore. She couldn't tell anyone that she was having these nightmares… because then they'd ask why. They'd ask why, and in an Academy filled with Jedi and Jedi hopefuls, she wouldn't be able to lie. They'd figure her out.

Then they'd know.

They'd know what she'd done, and what she was doing.

They'd know… that she had done something terribly wrong.

She couldn't let anyone know. No one could know what she'd done. She'd be expelled, sent home in shame. Or worse. She didn't even dare think about the rest.

No. She'd just keep suffering in silence. She'd keep it secret. No one would find out her secret. No one would stand in the way of her and her ambitions to become a Jedi. Even if she was doing wrong, she'd keep going. They couldn't stop her, even if they tried.

X-X-X-X-X

Nerca Gomika Beyul shuffled along the solid stone floor towards a table in the wide room that served as the Academy's cafeteria, yawning. Last night had been just like all of the others…

"Good morning, Gomika," a familiar voice said as she sat down at the table.

"What's good about it, Sombal?" Gomika growled at her twin sister.

"You're alive, aren't you?" Sombal replied, tossing a raven tress over her shoulder.

"Alive, but not happy," Gomika grumbled, pressing a button in the middle of the table.

"Why?" Sombal asked as a droid flew over and set down a tray of food familiar Nssh food in front of Gomika. "You didn't sleep well?"

"No," Gomika grumbled, shoving a forkful of fried l'kll'o egg in her mouth. "Did you, Sombal?"

"Yes, I did," she replied with a satisfied sigh. "What's with you, Gomika? You seem… I don't know, _distant_ most of the time nowadays. What's up?"

"Nothing," Gomika snarled fiercely.

Nerca Sombal Beyul was never a courageous Nssh—often quite the opposite—but somehow, she found the courage to push onward despite Gomika's harshness.

"It's not 'nothing', Gomika and you know it."

"It _is _nothing!" Gomika all but shouted back. "I'm just a little stressed lately, Sombal and that's _all_!"

Sombal was utterly taken aback by this outburst, and just stared at Gomika with a wide open mouth for a moment. Then she sniffed, and tears welled in her dark eyes.

"I don't know what it is I did, Gomika, but I'm sorry!" Sombal whispered before jumping to her feet and running out of the room, sobbing.

Many students turned at looked at Gomika and Sombal's still half-full tray across from her, angry glares on their faces. Sombal was gentle and never harmed anything in her life, so when she was hurt in return, everyone tended to turn on the one that had harmed her.

Gomika returned the glares, intensified a thousand-fold and snapped, "Mind your own business!" at anyone that approached to ask the cause of Somabal's quick departure.

Part of Gomika was ashamed that she'd hurt her sister, but the other half said, "Sombal is weak. She deserved it."

Gomika finished her breakfast undisturbed, a battle raging in her head.

X-X-X-X-X

"Master Skywalker? I need to speak with you."

"Come in, Sombal," Master Skywalker called to the young Nssh.

She did, and as she came around the corner, Luke Skywalker picked up on the emotional hurt in her sense. But he also saw her face, her red eyes and the patches of skin under her eyes that had become scaly. When liquid touched Nssh skin, the skin became just that: scaly.

And the shimmering blue-green scales were all down her cheeks, as if she'd been crying.

"Sombal, what is it?"

"Master Skywalker, it's Gomika," Sombal quietly. "There's something wrong. She hasn't slept well in months, I can tell. She's always in turmoil somehow, though she keeps it well hidden. Something is terribly wrong, Master Skywalker; I sense it. But I do not know what it is."

"Are you sure that something is wrong, Sombal? Are you sure you aren't just imagining it?"

Sombal nodded firmly. "I am sure, Master. I know my sister very well… We are connected and intertwined in the Force. Yes, Master, I am very sure."

"Well then, what do you propose I do, Sombal?"

The Nssh teenager sighed. "Master Skywalker, I must know what is wrong with Gomika. If you could… I don't know… call her to your office here or something. Interview her or something like that. Master Skywalker, all I ask is that you try and figure out what it is."

For a moment, the Jedi Master was silent. Then he sighed and said, "Sombal, I promise I will help you all that I can. I'm not exactly sure I can though. Your sister is… tightly closed. She seals herself off often, even beyond what I can read. I am not particularly good in the investigative anyway, and if she does—" Abruptly, he stopped.

Sombal frowned and cocked her head to one side. "What is it, Master?"

"Sombal, I have a better idea. I will put Mara on this case, and let her help you. She is much more in tune with emotional findings and investigations that I am, and she could help you so much more. Would you care if I did that?"

"No, Master, I would not," the Nssh girl purred. "It would be just as well for Jedi Jade Skywalker to help me."

"Good. I'll send her to help you as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Master," Sombal said happily and strode out.

Luke Skywalker waited for a moment, then sent out a mental pulse for his wife of three years.

_Mara?_

The reply came back almost instantly. _Yeah, Skywalker?_

_I need to see you in my office._

_Luke, now's not the time for that…_

He felt his cheeks get warm. _It's not that. We have a potential crisis on our hands, and I need your help._

He could picture her mock-exasperation. _The world just falls apart without me, doesn't it?_

Luke Skywalker felt a smile light up his face. _Just get up here, Mara._

"No need to get your wires all tangled," a voice said from across the office, at the door. "I'm here, Skywalker."

Mara Jade Skywalker strode in towards her husband, a playful smile on her face. "So, what galaxy-threatening crisis must I solve for you now?"

"It's not exactly galaxy-threatening, dear, but it requires your help nonetheless," Luke replied. "Sombal Beyul came to me a few minutes ago. She's concerned about Gomika, very concerned. She says something's wrong, that Gomika seems… in constant turmoil somehow, but she keeps it well hidden. Sombal can sense it. And I cannot help but believe her… She and Gomika are not only strong in the Force, but they're identical twins. Connected, intertwined. I know from experience…"

"You and Leia?" Mara asked.

Luke nodded. "And they grew up together, too." _A luxury Leia and I never had._

"And you want me to check Gomika out and see if there's anything wrong with her?"

Luke nodded again.

"Sure, Skywalker, I'll do your dirty work for you," Mara mock-growled. "How soon do I get started?"

"As soon as possible, Mara," Luke answered with a slight grimace. "I have a feeling this whole situation may be about to explode into utter catastrophe."

X-X-X-X-X

Gomika was sitting alone at lunch—no one wanted to sit with the one that had hurt Sombal—when Jedi Jade Skywalker strolled casually over and sat down beside her, uninvited.

Gomika grunted slight disapproval at the Jedi Knight—she would rather eat alone—as she sat down, but Master Skywalker's wife just ignored it.

"Gomika Beyul, isn't it?" she asked a little too casually.

Gomika's concerns went up immediately. "Yeah," she said shortly, discouraging further questions.

Jade pushed on anyway. "You're the stronger of the Beyul twins, right?"

"Uh-huh," Gomika grunted, paying more attention to her sandwich than the red-gold haired Jedi beside her.

"So… I've heard that you're considered the stronger one, but that Sombal's the smarter and kinder. What do you think?"

This caught Gomika's attention. Usually when people asked this question, they at least tried to mask it so as to "consider Gomika's feelings". "I think she's gentler, but certainly not smarter. She's got her areas where she can upstage me in intellect, but I've got mine too."

"Such as…?"

"Weapons, history, mathematics…" Gomika listed. "I've got her there."

"Interesting," Jade said slowly.

"I would've thought that my class records would have shown that," Gomika snorted, realizing that Jade had gotten her talking.

"I'm not always privy to class records."

"I would've thought that the wife of the headmaster of the Jedi Academy _and_ the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy would be privy to anything her heart desired."

"And I would've thought that the sister of Sombal Beyul the Gentle would have more respect for her," Jade replied.

So that was what this was about. Gomika knew Jade had some agenda, and she had just thrown the cover off wide.

Gomika snarled nastily at her. "I have respect for Sombal, but she's weak and needs to learn a couple of lessons."

"And you're the one to teach them?"

"Shut-up," Gomika snarled with ferocity that frightened her. It wasn't that she'd never snapped "shut-up" at one of her elders, she'd done that many times. But way she did it and just the way that it was sparked…

_Lack of sleep is making me very irritable_, Gomika decided.

Gomika was shocked by her ferocity, and so was Jade, but she just sat there, staring at Gomika after that outburst.

"What? No one ever told you to shut-up before?" Gomika growled, taking a bite from her sandwich.

"No one that wanted to live," Jade replied.

_So now you're angry because I reacted to your insults_, Gomika thought grumpily. _Oh, great. Just great… I had to go and irritate Master Skywalker's wife._

"Uh-huh," Gomika grumbled aloud.

"Gomika, Sombal is very worried about you," Jade began. "We all sense it. You seem more detached than normal too. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she snapped reflexively.

"It's not nothing, I can tell."

"It _is_ nothing, Jade, and you'd do well to leave it alone." Gomika knew the statement could get her in serious trouble with the teachers, but at the moment, she couldn't care less.

"So it is something."

"I said _drop it_!"

"I won't, Gomika."

This hit Gomika's very heart, and she grew suddenly afraid, but she kept it far down enough for no one to read that, even Jade.

"Then I'm leaving!" Gomika snapped, getting to her feet, grabbing her sandwich and storming off.

She knew she was running from Jade. Whether it was because she was irritated or because she was scared, she couldn't say.

X-X-X-X-X

That night was the same as all of the others before it, but worse.

Tonight, Gomika's nightmare was worse.

The pain she experienced through the nightmare was always awful, but tonight it was excruciating. She woke up with a scream, finding herself soaked in cold sweat.

Her breath was coming in and out in short, choppy stretches, and she was beginning to wonder if it would ever become normal again.

But in a deeper part of her, she was beginning to wonder if her life would ever become normal again, if the nightmares would ever cease.

She knew what caused them.

She had touched the forbidden Sith Fornath, and its dark power was making her have these nightmares.

She knew that the simplest solution would be to stop her now weekly power tap of the object, but she also knew that she couldn't.

Gomika was addicted.

Addictions are nigh always bad, but Gomika knew that hers could be the death of her if the side-effects didn't stop.

But she knew they wouldn't.

She was hooked, and hooked deeply. She didn't know it, but this force that had a hold on her now… this force was the dark side of the Force, power and strength of the Sith for many generations when they'd existed.

She didn't know it, but Gomika was being engulfed more and more by the dark side each time she did what was forbidden and touched the Fornath.


	3. Lost

**_At last, it's here! Thank you to all of you readers for being so dadgum patient, I appreciate it. And once again, thanks for reading, but please do the kind thing and review! I would appreciate it all the more._**

**_The title is pretty much self explanatory... Or maybe not. :)_**

**_Once again, sorry this took so long._**

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**Lost**

Gomika's features were sharp, and they'd always been sharp. Harsh. Mean. Fierce. Gomika was sharp, harsh and fierce, but though she sometimes came off as mean, she wasn't. But it often helped her to look mean. Bullies never picked on Gomika.

Sombal's own features were nigh identical to Gomika's—they _were _identical twins—but the tiniest differences changed everything. Sombal's face was softer, much softer. Timid. Gentle. Shy. And shy, timid people were the first ones bullies went for.

Sombal never let anyone know, but she often envied Gomika's courage. Or just Gomika's sharp face. That projection of courage.

Gomika's face never betrayed fear.

But now, Sombal saw something on Gomika's face and features that she had never, ever seen there before.

Agony.

She'd seen her sister in pain before, sure, even severe pain—when wild Gomika had broken her leg during a hoverboarding venture during the twins' ninth year, she'd been in deep pain—but now, Gomika was in utter _agony_.

She trashed about in her tiny bed, moaning and screeching in terror, her face contorted as if she was being tortured.

She was asleep, but wouldn't be for long.

Silently, Sombal slipped back out of Gomika's room and into the hallway, sliding gently on her delicate, typically unshod Nssh feet. The watery world of Sh'nssh'klh'ych trained its inhabiting Nssh to move deftly and fluidly even when removed from the waters, and Nerca Sombal was no exception.

It was the middle of Yavin 4's night and the Great Temple was asleep. Sombal crept onward down the hallway, back towards her own room, grateful that the jungle moon outside never slept.

The sounds of the woolamanders would cover any sounds she might accidentally make.

Ever the cautious one, Sombal reached out to the Force to make sure no one in this hallway was awake…

_Oh, by the seas of the Homeworld, go back to your room! _she thought at this presence she'd just detected. But it was entirely futile: whoever it was, they just kept right on walking towards Sombal. _Oh, Sithspit._

She'd never make it back to her room, as if that would even make a difference. Whomever this was—Sombal strongly suspected it was an instructor—she was going to get in trouble for being out past curfew, even if it was just down the hall.

"Oh, Sithspit," she muttered the curse aloud this time.

She straightened as she came closer to the instructor… And as the hallway's dimmed lights caught the highlights in the teacher's red-gold hair, Sombal identified her.

"Jedi Jade Skywalker!" she whispered, surprised.

The Jedi Knight waved her hand. "Lead on to your room, Sombal. We will discuss your past-curfew whereabouts in private."

Somewhat reluctantly, Sombal continued past a couple more doors before coming to the one that displayed a picture of Sh'nssh'klh'ych, the Sea of Kall'eym in particular, home to the Be'yul clan. Below the picture was scribed "Nerca Sombal Beyul" first in Basic, and then "Ner'ca'somb'al'be'yul"—her name in Nssh—written in the flowing Nssh script. She touched a lightly web-fingered hand to the palm-lock, and the door slowly slid open as the lock confirmed her identity.

As the door slid aside and always-barefoot Sombal slinked her way in, touching a light panel, Mara Jade Skywalker glanced about the moistened small room with barely hidden disgust. Wicked looking algae covered most of the walls and streams of water leaked down between them at uneven intervals.

"Do not worry, Mistress Skywalker," Sombal said over her shoulder. "There is nothing in this room even remotely close to endangering to Human health. It is simply uncomfortable for most of you."

Sombal could still sense the older Jedi's reluctance, but she stepped into the room quickly, allowing the door to slide closed behind her. She followed Sombal in, her boots making slight ripples in the four or so centimeters of water that covered the cubicle's floor.

"So, Sombal," Jade Skywalker began, seating herself on the only dry thing in the room: the cot which came standard-issue to all young potential Jedi with these rooms. "Go ahead and give me your excuse for being out past curfew."

Blinking round, nigh-black eyes, Sombal began her explanation. "I will not lie to you, Jedi Jade Skywalker. I know that I was out past curfew, and I did it consciously."

The Jedi's brows rose. Sombal knew what she was thinking: Sombal the Blameless had willingly broken a rule?

"Yes, Master, I did. However, I strongly believe it was for good. You see, I was out because I went down to Gomika's room, to… spy on her so to speak. You know that I can sense that she's not right, that something is wrong. Since your explorations have been thus-far fruitless, I decided to do some investigating of my own."

Jade let out a shuddering breath. "So, what did you find?"

"Gomika has been having nightmares."

The Jedi Knight looked relieved. "Oh? That's all?"

"Master, do not be so quick to dismiss this problem. By all of the seas that span my Homeworld, do not dismiss the problem. Master, Gomika is strong. Very, very strong. She has never, ever, ever had nightmares before in her entire life. And I don't think that thirteen's exactly the age to start."

Staring at the floor through the four centimeters of water, Jade seemed to digest that for a few minutes, and Sombal left her to her thoughts.

Finally, she spoke. "How bad do you think they are?"

"Oh, they're awful. She shrieks in agony and terror. Master, I have never really seen Gomika afraid of _anything_. She is afraid of these dreams. I have never seen my sister shriek about anything, yet she shrieks in terror during her _sleep_!"

Jade sighed, and looked up. "It's really that bad?" At Sombal's nod, she sighed again. "Oh, by the Force, I feel something's about to happen here, Sombal. Something that will change the course of the universe. And it is centered on Gomika. Master Skywalker and the other Knights sense something is moving as well. We need to find out what is causing these nightmares, and stop it."

Sombal hesitated before she replied to the Jedi Knight's statement. She knew something about that… something she'd read from Gomika…

Even as Jade got up to leave, Sombal stopped her with a few words. "I think that Gomika is doing something that is causing the nightmares."

Jade stopped cold in her tracks, turning back to the tall, thin Nssh teenager. "What?"

"Gomika is doing something to cause them," Sombal repeated. "I can tell. She is apprehensive all of the time that someone will figure something out… I think her apprehension may be causing it, maybe something greater. But she is doing something, something that most likely is wrong."

Jade ran a hair through her red-gold curls, blowing out an exasperated breath. "How sure are you?"

"About ninety-seven percent, Master. As sure as I am that the Homeworld's seas' tides will turn according to schedule."

She shook her head. "That changes a lot, Sombal."

"I know, Master."

"You should have mentioned that before."

"I was not sure of it until tonight."

"Sombal, I want you to stay away from your sister as much as possible," Jade informed her. "I don't want anything she's doing to rub off on you."

"Do not worry, I will do everything possible to make sure I don't fall into the same trap. And Jedi Jade Skywalker, I want you to promise me that you will do everything possible to rescue Gomika from whatever she has done to herself."

"I promise," Mara Jade Skywalker said, nodding again. "However, Sombal, one cannot rescue those that do not wish to be freed…"

* * *

Gomika woke up in a cold sweat, as she always did after these nightmares. She threw a glance out of her tiny room's window at the gas giant Yavin's great orange circle in Yavin 4's night sky. Judging by the positioning, she'd say it was just past midnight.

Sithspawn! She hadn't even slept the five hours that had been the norm for two months. She'd only managed to get in three and a half…

As her dark side-enhanced Force senses began to awaken, she felt the lingering of a familiar sensation…

Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on the sensation, pushing out everything else…A scowl leapt to her face and anger gripped her heart as she placed the unique sensation.

Sombal had been here. Recently.

Still scowling as she sat up, Gomika reached out with the Force in the direction of Sombal's room, searching. As she suspected, she brushed against her sister's sappy-sweet presence, awake and alert.

Angered, Gomika flung off her thin, wet coverlets and threw her legs over the edge of the bed, intending to confront Sombal here and now.

Then her awareness brushed across another presence in Sombal's room. It took Gomika a few long moments to decide who it was, and when she did her eyebrows first rose in surprise, then lowered in anger.

Jade!

Her scowl deepened. Before that confrontation with Jade in the Academy cafeteria a few days ago, Gomika had respected the formal Imperial for her strength, spunk and fearlessness. Now, she resented the Knight's go-getter attitude, since it was aimed at Gomika and her secret.

And now, she resented Jade with a stronger hate. She was now preventing Gomika from confronting Sombal, since Gomika certainly couldn't lash out with the choice words she'd picked in front of an instructor…

With a grumble, she slid back into bed. She gingerly pulled the covers back over herself, trying to settle into at least a trance-like state, since she knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after those cursed nightmares…

Yes, she'd just have to confront little sneaky Sombal in the morning.

* * *

The next day began bright and early for Sombal Beyul, and she rose somewhat gratefully, glad that today this crisis with Gomika would finally—oh, finally!—be solved. With a bright smile on her face, Sombal slid out of her small bunk and took a quick shower in the 'fresher.

After preparing herself for the day, she scooped up her newly-fashioned lightsaber, and slid a thumb across the recessed activator panel.

The blade sprang forth, and she examined it.

She couldn't be more proud of herself for fashioning such a weapon, and neither could the Be'yul clan back home. It was as close to being a mirror-image as the original Nerca Beyul's as Sombal could manage, having a smooth, rippling handgrip and recessed panels instead of activator and blade-extender studs. She'd even managed to find amethysts to make the blade the same violet hue as her infamous great-aunt's, and she'd even sacrificed gold bracelets from her homeworld to make the golden ringlets that circled it in various places.

With a sigh, she stroked the activator panel again, and the blade vanished back into the hilt. She had done everything possible to mimic the long-dead original, taking on becoming a Jedi, taking on her name, building a mirror image of her lightsaber… All at the request andchoiceof her family, and the Nssh Council. Gomika had done the same.

They were the Nssh race's hope of obtaining an inkling of the glory they'd had when the original Nerca had been in service to the Old Republic.

Sombal and Gomika would become the New Republic's Nssh Jedi.

Often Sombal had wondered if she would have the strength…

She shook her head and put the thoughts to rest. Thoughts of accomplishing or failing to accomplish everyone's hopes and dreams for her were not something to work out before morning classes.

Clipping the lightsaber to her belt, Sombal stroked the door panel and let it slide aside.

And she met face to face with her twin sister's cold, dark stare.

Startled, Sombal nearly jumped.

"Oh, 'morning, Sombal," Gomika hissed in Nssh, her voice abnormally low and dark.

"Good morning to you too, Gomika," Sombal replied in Basic, plastering a smile to her face and burying her thoughts of the night before deep-down.

Gomika's face curled into a nasty expression and she cocked her head to one side as she spread her arms and blocked the doorway with her body. "Did you sleep well, _sister_?" she continued on in Nssh, hissing the last word out like a curse.

"Oh, quite well."

"Was that before or after you took a visit down to my room?" She let the smooth Nssh words come out low and hard, almost like a veiled threat…

Stifling a gulp, Sombal switched over to Nssh like Gomika, so none of the other students gathering in the hallway could understand. "I don't know what you're talking about, Gomika."

"Oh, but I think you do."

Sombal glanced frantically about over Gomika's shoulders and back into her rooms. This was not supposed to happen this way!

"Uh…Uh…I can explain, Gomika!" Sombal cried out, still in Nssh.

Gomika's face began to pucker up angrily. "Oh, you'd better," she bit out. "Explain all you want, sis, but it's not gonna take back what you did."

* * *

Sensing turmoil and knowing that something was wrong, Mara Jade Skywalker and Tionne—the only two Jedi Knights or Masters left at the Academy at the moment—hurried up the Great Temple's winding staircase towards one of the student housing levels. Both Jedi women could tell by the flow of students where to go, and that something was going terribly wrong…

And they could both sense the dark cloud in the Force.

They burst out onto the packed level, pushing students aside as they hurried into the empty middle of the crowd to see just what was going on…

"Jha neek myrato consenales m'vyr'ok toveetsas!" Gomika Beyul snarled in a foreign language angrily at Sombal, whom she was blocking inside the door of a tiny room.

"Perato, be'ng nuun setssna loolikias veiskosoa oplsoeas, Gom'ik'a!" Sombal insisted. "Mara'chak stsolleik myrtoai!"

Tionne leaned towards Mara. "What are they saying? And what language is that?"

"I think it's Nssh," Mara answered, trying to catch what they were saying. In service to the Emperor, she'd learned some of the language. "And I think that Gomika's angry for Sombal invading her room last night."

"Como solceissann Ka'yyem Jaad Skeewalkeer?" Gomika snarled in response. "Kai'ess mararadiso dkosos sloolmb pall spdiosk!"

Mara caught some of that. If she was right, Gomika had said, "And just what about Master Jade Skywalker? I knew she was there too!"

_Stang!_ she thought. _Gomika knew I was there…Did I cause all of this?_

Worry beginning to flow through her, Mara continued to push—harder now—through the throng of students towards the arguing twin Nssh. She had to stop this, and stop it quickly.

* * *

Sombal shrank back under Gomika's fury. She knew that this was becoming terribly wrong and that Gomika thought that Sombal knew whatever it was that she was doing to cause the nightmares… But Sombal also knew that Jade and Tionne were on their way to help, perhaps calm Gomika.

She just had to hold out until then. But her hope of doing that was shrinking further and further away under the constant barrage of Gomika's fury…

"So what did you hope to accomplish, Sombal?" Gomika asked. "To supplant me as the first Nssh Jedi? Did you want all of the glory of being the New Republic's first Beyul Jedi? You know that I'm ahead of you in most classes, and so you figured you'd find something to discredit me?" She shoved Sombal. Hard. "Huh, Sombal? Huh?" She shoved again. "Hmm? What's that, sister?"

Sombal remained silent.

"Gomika!" snapped Jade into the fray. "Stop and step back, now!" Sombal could see an angry fire in the Jedi Knight's brilliant green eyes as she stared at the only slightly shorter Gomika. "Step back!" she repeated.

Gomika turned to her over her shoulderwith an even deeper fire burning in her deep, dark eyes. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, you spineless worm!" she grated in Basic, her voice coming out demonically low. "This does not concern you."

Jade looked shocked, but did not shrink back. "You are a student underneath my jurisdiction! And it does concern me!"

"You abandoned our side of the Force, Mara Jade," Gomika said, finally turning to the redhead Jedi. As she turned, Sombal saw that Gomika's eyes lost all sanity, and she knew that her sister was no longer the Nssh she'd known her as. She saw that Gomika was possessed by…the dark side of the Force. "You turned your back on us and spit on all that you were taught, all that was the true nature of the Force, to follow a false prophet down the despised way of the Light. You were our servant, killing Jedi as your brilliant master decreed. Now you are one of those accursed. You have lost all power over us, Mara Jade, and now you are forever cursed."

Jade's face now openly displayed genuinely shocked surprise, and she glared at Gomika with concern in her eyes. "Gomika, this is not you. This is the dark side speaking!"

An evil smile touched Gomika's face. "You fool. I am the Dark, and Gomika and I are one. She has surrendered herself to me, as you once did."

Jade moved forward to restrain Gomika, slender, silver-haired Tionne following.

Even as they came within an arm's length of Gomika, an utterly demonic satisfaction passed over her face. "Fools," she muttered, a hand flinging out towards them.

Both Jedi Knights flew off of the ground by Gomika's Force shove, flying backward and striking the Great Temple's solid stone wall with a double _thud_. Both slumped down to the floor, unconscious.

Shocked by Gomika's unnatural display of power, young students shrieked and scrambled to get out of the hallway.

Taking advantage of the distraction and the position to which Gomika had moved, Sombal slinked out of the doorway towards the corridor's winding passageway. As she slid by occupied Gomika, she stole a glance at the curled, unconscious figures of her instructors. How did Gomika gain the power to do that? She knew personally that her sister shouldn't have enough strength in the Force to defeat two Jedi Knights…

But she couldn't afford to think of that now.

As she moved out of Gomika's arm range, she quickened her slink to a full-out run. She had to get out of here…She heard Gomika shout her disapproval behind her, but she kept right on running towards the corridor's beckoning safety. She'd never run so hard in her life.

* * *

Regaining some of that elusive control, Gomika smirked at what she'd done. Here she was, young Nssh teenager training to be a Jedi, and she'd managed to foil two Jedi Knights' attempt to apprehend her.

Somewhere in her mind, a voice whispered. _You shouldn't have done this, Gomika. They are the instructors that were shaping you, teaching you…_

Inwardly, she growled at the voice and it was silenced.

They'd damned themselves by going against her in the first place.

As she silenced the inward conflict, she became aware of her sister slipping down the hallway to her left. The little slink…

Infuriated, Gomika shouted at Sombal as she broke into a flat-out run. But Sombal paid no attention, and Gomika took off after her.

Utilizing that infamous Nssh agility, Sombal slid through the crowd of students clogging the hallway. They slid aside if they could, allowing "Sombal the Gentle" to pass through them quickly and deftly.

However, they parted and scrambled aside as Gomika tore through the crowd after her sprinting sister. They rippled away from her in fear like water as something caresses its surface, their fear rippling back in response.

But as Sombal tore through the back of the crowd and Gomika neared it, a line of students appeared to stand in her way. None of them wavered or moved as the others did, but they stood their ground firmly.

Gomika was forced to stop just outside an arm's length from the line. "Move, weaklings," she grated at them.

"We will not," answered a short, russet-haired girl standing in the middle of the line, right in front of Gomika. After a moment, Gomika identified her as Jaina Solo of Coruscant, Master Skywalker's niece.

"You will, or you will find the depths of my anger," she replied, pouring dark venom into her voice.

Beside Jaina, her twin brother—_Jacen_, Gomika named after a moment's concentration—spoke up. "We are not afraid of you, Dark Jedi."

Part of Gomika was repelled by being called Dark Jedi, but that was faint behind her anger. Her eyes lit once more with that demonic fire, and she gave them a dark smile. "You should be."

Lightsabers sprang to life in the hands of the students forming the row, varying from purple in the row's center at Jaina Solo, to blue, green, yellow, orange and silver. They all angled towards Gomika.

She snickered at the insolent fools as a durasteel cylinder found its way into her right palm. Her thumb absently stroked the activator panel, and with a _snap-hiss_, a blood red blade sprang forth, angled towards the line.

She thrust her left palm at half of the line—from Jacen Solo to the tiny student against the left wall—and they all lifted off of their feet and smashed collectively into the wall. Lightsabers dropped uselessly from their unconscious hands and rolled along the floor. The remaining students leapt at Gomika with their sabers, only to meet her singing crimson blade.

Within a single, standard minute, they were all lying on the floor and Gomika was running after Sombal once more.

* * *

Sombal burst out of the door and out onto the balcony that stretched all the way around the Great Temple's second floor, knowing and sensing Gomika was not far behind. She was on the verge of panic. Gomika was gone, lost to the dark side now, and out for revenge on Sombal. Sombal had no where left to run, either…

"Stop where you are, smm'bll'yck!" came the all-to-familiar voice behind Sombal.

Slowly and obediently, Sombal stopped and turned around to face Gomika. Deep within, a part of her that wasn't terrified was appalled at being called smm'bll'yck—a Nssh term for weakling, inept, foolish…It never occurred to Sombal that her name sounded remotely like smm'bll'yck, even with the silent B.

In Gomika's hand was the smooth durasteel cylinder of her lightsaber, and she stroked a recessed panel—just like the one on Sombal's lightsaber— using her thumb and with the familiar _snap-hiss_ customary to a lightsaber, a blood-red blade sprang forth. It had always bothered Sombal that her sister had crafted a saber with a blade the exact same hue as the infamous Sith…

"Now, Sombal, you know too much. You've also violated my privacy and done things I cannot excuse." Slowly, Gomika stalked closer. "You have been a thorn in my palm too long, Sombal, and now I'm just going to have to deal with you."

Before Sombal could even blink, Gomika closed the gap between them in a single bound, lightsaber slashing out.

Luckily, Sombal's Force-honed reflexes were quicker than her blink, and her purple blade was out and met the blood red one before it could harm her. Their class had only crafted their lightsabers recently, perhaps a few months ago, and they'd trained with less-dangerous "training sabers" for a few months before that, but Sombal and Gomika had both shown a miraculous adeptness for the art.

Gomika's saber came in for a hard slash at Sombal's left shoulder…The purple blade intercepted it fairly far out.

It continued like this for nigh an hour: Gomika slashed, jabbed and cut, Sombal blocked, dodged, shifted and parried. They were Nssh, agile and thin, and the battle took them all across the balcony and back, and their sabers moved faster than the eyes could track.

Neither tired or slowed.

Then suddenly, Gomika's gaze left her sister's movements and turned skyward. After a moment, Sombal sensed what it was she was looking at.

A cargo freighter carrying the rest of the Jedi Knights was slowly descending to Yavin 4, most likely meaning Gomika was about to get in serious trouble, if she wasn't killed…

"Sithspawn!" Gomika snarled, already running towards the edge of the balcony. She closed down her lightsaber, threw herself into a back handspring and vaulted over the two-story wall backwards, toward the landing pad. Even after she disappeared over the wall's edge, Sombal heard a string of thick Nssh curses follow. "Shef'th! Myrooskso! Haff'meefth!"

It continued like that as Sombal tiredly and helplessly watched her twin sister land safely, cushioned by the Force. She sprinted across the landing field towards the only vehicle left at the Academy…A fully-armed Z-95 Headhunter.

Another strong racial trait of the Nssh: they were all good pilots, especially the Beyul family.

Just as the cargo freighter touched down on the landing field and the landing ramp lowered to the ground, the Headhunter's repulsorlift engines kicked in and it shot skyward…

Numbly, Sombal's thumb stroked the activator panel on her humming lightsaber. Below on the landing field, Master Skywalker hurried out of the freighter, glancing first at the disappearing Headhunter, then at Sombal standing on the balcony.

"What happened, Sombal?" he called.

It took her a minute, but the Nssh student turned to the Jedi Master. "More than I can explain at the moment, Master Skywalker." She shook her head. "But Master Jade Skywalker was injured—not seriously. And Gomika…" She cast a look to the twilight sky, and the tiny shape of the Headhunter disappearing into space. "Gomika is lost."

* * *

**I've decided that one more short chapter will follow, and then _Lure_ will be over**. :)


	4. Reflection

_**Hah... It's here when we all thought it would never come: the last chapter. It's not too eventful, but simply deals with the immediate aftermath of Gomika's actions. Thank you to all readers, especially my reviewer JediTwitch. ;)**_

* * *

**Reflection**

When looked upon from the fateful present, often the past seems too good to be true. One could never have been that secure and happy. When reflection upon happier times past is engrossing oneself, the present seems all the more dark and dire.

Reflections were taking up Sombal Beyul's day for now, as scenes from the past with her now gone twin sister continuously plagued her. Overhead, the Yavin System's sun was fading into darkness, just as it had been rising when Sombal took a seat atop the Great Temple.

Neither affected her.

No one had dared venture to the Great Temple's roof today in fear of disturbing the brooding Nssh girl. Not Master Skywalker, not Jedi Jade Skywalker, not her friends, for they all knew they could do nothing but harm.

_Nothing but harm…_ Sombal thought as another memory presented itself in her mind.

-----

_Sombal strode gallantly up to Gomika, holding in her hands a small, beautiful Nssh llyyyrtoa. It was a small fish of a very rare type in the seas where the Beyul family lived, worth large amounts as the rich kept them for pets. And amazingly, this was the second one that Sombal had found and caught today._

"_Gomi, look!" she said, opening her webbed fingers ever so lightly to show her sister the prize. "I caught another one!"_

_Gomika only nodded. "That's great, Sombal."_

"_I'm going to put it in the dish with the other one."_

"_Don't," Gomika warned._

_Frowning, Sombal glanced at her sister. "Why not?"_

"_Because two llyyyrtoa together are like you and me: different as air and water. They'll kill each other, because they're like all other living things: they can do nothing but harm to each other."_

_Not heeding Gomika's warning, Sombal put the two fish together. Within minutes, before she could stop it, both were dead._

-----

Gomika's words burned in Sombal's head.

_Together they are like you and me: different as air and water. They'll kill each other, because they are like all other living things: they can do nothing but harm to each other._

She had never at any point in her life denied that she and Gomika were very different, but really, could they be so different that they were like a pair of llyyyrtoa? Were they destined to tear each other apart like that?

Gomika's actions were tearing at Sombal now, most certainly, but to the point of death?

_Like all other living things…_

One of Gomika's most stressed opinions upon Sombal was that living beings could never settle mutually on anything long enough to help one another in the long run. People were just too different, she said. And wars were started that way.

Sombal had always disagreed. People were different, yes, but at heart, were not most people the same? Couldn't they all feel pain, anger, joy, anxiety, comfort and so on? And if they all had the same feelings at heart, couldn't they find common ground?

But now she saw that she and Gomika had never quite managed to find common enough ground.

Yes, they'd made it through childhood together, up until these early teenage years, but truly, had it had any effect on what would become of the two's relationship in years to come?

Slowly, Sombal's mind drifted back to more memories sparked by these thoughts…

-----

"_Oh, you two are just so cute!" exclaimed Aunt Rffeendyy at Sombal and Gomika's matching outfits._

_Ten years old, Gomika scoffed angrily and folded her arms, while beside her Sombal smiled proudly._

"_Thank you, Auntie Rff!" she said brightly._

"_Oh, yeah, thanks for nothing," Gomika muttered beyond anyone but Sombal's hearing._

"_You two will be so happy as twins through your later years," spoke up another, farther distant relative at the party. The one thing Sombal could recall about him was that he had an identical twin brother. "Always having someone like you to share experiences with."_

_Gomika muttered quietly, thinking even Sombal couldn't hear this time, though she was wrong. "Oh, yeah. Someone like me? Have you ever even talked with either one of us separately, you nerfherder?" She scoffed again. "And share experiences, yeah, right. We get old enough, I'm outta here."_

_Too young to realize the content behind the words, Sombal just went along smiling at the rest of the adults._

-----

Now she knew that Gomika had always been annoyed by her presence, on a very deep level. Sombal was even beginning to doubt that the sister she had always loved unconditionally even loved her in return.

_No_, Sombal firmly stopped herself.

No matter what Gomika had done, she couldn't question her sister's love. Gomika Beyul may have openly embraced the dark side, but regardless, she still had to love her family.

But Gomika had openly defied her family's deepest desire for her by losing the chance to become one of the New Republic's first Nssh Jedi…Did that mean something?

She was obviously unwilling to follow in the tracks of her namesake, the Old Republic's Jedi Master Nerca Beyul, so did that mean she was spitting on her heritage?

She'd left Sombal alone with the responsibility…

Once again inspired by her thoughts, Sombal's memory took flight.

-----

_Sombal Beyul had been three years old and oblivious when the Empire had fallen and the New Republic started its rise. When the Empire's oppression had been lifted, Sombal had learned for the first time the reason that her first name was Nerca, and had seen secreted holovids of the original._

_Time after time growing up, Sombal had seen the videos…_

_A sleek, silver starship pierced the clouds and settled expertly on an algae-covered landing pad…The landing ramp lowered, and down strode a wide-eyed, tall, muscular but thin stick of a woman…_

_Nerca Beyul had been one of the Jedi Order's greatest pilots, as her race was naturally adept, and beyond that, a powerful and wise Jedi beyond her years. Always surpassing her peers, Nerca Beyul had been not only wise, but knowledgeable almost to the point of fault…_

_She had always been the Nssh race's idol, even before she discovered that she was Nssh._

_Even at three, Sombal knew that physically, she took very little resemblance to her great-aunt… She and Gomika had always been dark-haired, dark-eyed, delicate-featured girls, while the original Nerca had been a blonde-haired, dark-eyed, bold-featured, striking woman. But she hoped that as a Jedi, she could take after the legendary Nssh._

_A lifetime of determination to live up to her name had caused Sombal to immediately accept Master Luke Skywalker's invitation to train at the Jedi Academy…_

-----

Even though her partner was now gone, Sombal's determination had not in the least diminished. No, actually, it had grown. She was more determined than ever to succeed where Gomika had failed.

She sighed, looking skyward.

If Gomika had turned to the dark, could that mean that she would become one of the next generations of Sith? If not Sith, would she then be simply a Dark Jedi? If she were either one, did that mean it was Sombal's duty as a Jedi to rid the galaxy of Gomika one day?

Sombal doubted she had the strength.

With a deep sigh and the beginning of sobs, Sombal buried her face in her hands.

_Oh, Gomika_, she silently called. _Why, oh, why did you have to do this? Sister, what in the galaxy possessed you to spite us all so harshly?_

As expected, she received no reply from the probably distant Dark Jedi.

**THE END**

* * *

_**Hey, guys, it's been a total blast writing this story when I had the time... Sombal is such a cool little character, and Gomika is a fallen destiny, which is always helpful to look at.**_

_**Thank you so very, very much to you all who have read this, and especially to those kind enough to stop and leave reviews. You have made this experience all the more wonderful.**_

**_I am planning several sequels in the future, hopefully not too far away. After all, we have to see just what it is Gomika is up to out there, and how Sombal will cope long after! Also, I would suggest that you all go back and read of the first Nerca Beyul, from whom Sombal and Gomika take their name, in_ The Kindred Knights: Book One: The Dark Rivals _and the short stories that will be up on this sight shortly after when I'm done with the editting._**


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